


There's Change Coming, Once and for All

by HunterCade



Category: Newsies (1992), Newsies - All Media Types, Newsies!: the Musical - Fierstein/Menken
Genre: Canon Compliant, Canon Era, Davey POV, Davey-centric fic, F/F, F/M, M/M, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Post-Canon, StrikeDay2019, StrikeStrikeStrikeDay, but they are all there trust me, like the whole time, not every single newsie is mentioned
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-07-19
Updated: 2019-07-19
Packaged: 2020-07-08 11:33:20
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,812
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19868941
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/HunterCade/pseuds/HunterCade
Summary: After the rally, Davey thinks that all hope is lost for the strike. But later that night, a certain Jack Kelly shows up at his window, telling him about a plan he has to defeat Pulitzer. Maybe there is hope for the strike yet.(Basically, Davey telling the story of newsies from the rally until after the strike. Canon compliant until the official end of the musical.)





	There's Change Coming, Once and for All

If he was being honest, Davey had been more than a bit nervous about the rally. Even though he was the one to come up with the idea, he had only known the newsies for a little more than a week. He wasn’t entirely sure what he was doing. 

The only reason Davey was even going through with his idea was because Jack would be leading the rally, not him. He knew the newsies so much better. After all, he had been their leader for a few years but had become a newsie long before that. Jack was also surprisingly good at giving spur of the moment speeches, as he had learned when initially planned on going on strike. 

So, as one could imagine, he almost freaked out when Jack didn’t originally show up to the rally. Medda had told him that he’d have to talk to the enormous crowd of newsies, most of which were strangers, alone. He hadn’t known what to do. 

Somehow, he managed to speak without making a complete fool of himself. “All right. All right! Newsies of New York! Look at what we done. We got newsies from every pape and every neighborhood here tonight. Tonight, you’re makin’ history. Tonight, we declare that we are just as much a part of the newspaper as any reporter or editor. We are done bein’ treated like kids. From now on, they will treat us as equals! All right?” Thankfully, Jack showed up at that moment, just in time. Davey was running out of things to say. But then Jack was suggesting that they should stop striking and he got really confused. _What was going on? What was Jack talking about?_

And then it hit him. He was honestly surprised he didn’t think of it earlier. Jack had scabbed. The one person Davey thought he could absolutely count on to participate in the strike was Jack. Guess he shouldn’t have relied on him after all. 

That was when Spot Conlon pushed him, doing what Davey had been too scared to do. Every newsie was watching as Jack was shoved to the door of the theatre, where a man pressed a wad of money into Jack’s hand, confirming Davey’s theory that he had scabbed. It must have happened when he went to talk to Pulitzer. Turns out the plan to convince him to talk to the newsies as fellow human beings backfired. 

All Davey could do was stare in shock, while the theatre around him erupted into chaos. All the newsies were shouting and screaming, demanding to know what was going on. But all Davey could think about was how this seemed very out of character for Jack. He still couldn’t wrap his head around why, though. He was unable to think of a single logical reason for Jack to have done that. Davey was still confused, but he had to get Les home; his brother was the priority here. Even though he was concerned about his brother, he also couldn’t get Jack out of his mind. Shaking his head slightly to clear his thoughts, Davey went over and grabbed Les’s hand. They were about to head towards the exit of the theatre when Race approached him and said, “Hey, Davey, what are we going to do?”

He looked at the other boy seriously and admitted, “Honestly, I don’t know. I guess we’ll figure it out tomorrow.”

Race nodded slowly, his expression both angry, sad, and serious at the same time. “I guess. See you tomorrow.” He attempted to gather all of the Manhattan newsies. Since he was second in command to Jack, they were his responsibility. It was quite a job, considering the fact that most of them were yelling angrily. The ones that weren’t shouting were staring in shock at the theatre door, refusing to move. 

Davey had to practically fight to get to the door and was grateful for when he did. He and Les walked out of Medda’s theatre slowly, following the stream of rowdy newsies. When he got outside he took a large gulp of air, trying to keep his composure for his brother’s sake. They then started to tramp home. It had been a long day. Davey was still astonished(and not in a good way) by the events of the rally, but he didn't have time to dwell in his thoughts. He had to focus on getting them home. The pair of brothers continued down the street, with Davey ignoring Les’s questions, uncertain of the future of the strike. 

\-----

Only a few hours after going to bed, Davey awoke to someone knocking on his window. He sat up abruptly and looked outside. 

Not for the first time that night, his brows furrowed in confusion, but this time, also anger. He ripped his blanket off and went to his window, where Jack was crouching down there for some incomprehensible reason He opened it up and asked Jack angrily, “What are you doing here?”

His face looked apologetic. This made Davey even angrier because Jack didn’t have the right to be apologetic at the moment. No matter how sorry he was, the fact of the matter was that Jack had talked about shutting down the strike. He then spoke, “Look, Davey, I’m sorry about the rally and all, but we got more important things to do. Get dressed and meet me outside."

Davey looked at him incredulously for a few seconds before sighing and doing what he said, though he was still very confused. He also felt frustrated at himself though, for just doing what Jack said without question, even after what he did. He had barely known Jack for a week, but he was amazingly attached to the boy. 

After leaving a note, letting his family know where he was, the pair of them climbed down the fire escape and onto the street below. Once they met Jack down there, they started walking towards the lodging house and Davey demanded to know why Jack showed up at his home in the middle of the night without an explanation, “So Jack, what exactly is going on?”

He sighed, then went on to tell Davey about how he met Katherine on the rooftop and together they came up with a way to win the strike. He explained how there was an old printing press in Pulitzer’s mansion. They were going to make their own newspaper with it and spread it around the city. Davey nodded along as Jack talked. This might actually work.

\-----

After describing the plan, they fell into silence. The pair walked for a few more minutes before eventually reached the lodging house. Jack led Davey inside, as he had only been there once. Jack began to wake up all of the older newsies, with the help of Davey. They told everyone to gather in the living room for something important. 

Understandably, many of them were resistant in doing what Jack said after the rally, giving him glares instead. Race, in particular, was incredibly angry. Davey thought that he did have the right to be. He got in Jack’s face about it, nearly shouting at Jack, “And why should I do what you say after you go against us? Huh, Jack? You scabbed. That ain’t a’right.”

Jack looked down at his feet, and mumbled out, “And for that I am sorry, and there is a reason I did it, but it wasn’t for the money. I’ll explain everything later, but right now, I need everyone in the living room. Kath and I came up with a way to win the strike against Pulitzer, but we need to go right now.”

“Fine,” Race still looked apprehensive, but at least he was agreeing. “But you owe everyone an explanation and it better happen sooner than later.”

Jack nodded and turned to go, but was first grabbed by the arm by Race, “Hey, Jack. I’m glad you’re back,” he said with a small smile. 

Jack smiled back, before turning and walking out the door. He was followed by the majority of the older newsies, with a few staying behind to watch over the littles. With all of them gathered in the living room, Jack told everyone of the plan. “Okay, everyone, once again I would like to apologize for the rally. We don’t have time for an explanation, but just know I’m completely on your side again. Now, to beat Pulitzer, we is gonna sneak into his house with the help of Katherine. There’s an abandoned printing press in his basement where we’ll print out a newspaper letting every single person in the city know what working conditions is like for kids.”

Davey then spoke up, “Then every newsie is going to help spread the newspapers around the city. And we need to do this all before morning.” He looked at Jack and grinned, “I know we can do it with our strike leader back.”

Jack nodded, “We’re going to beat Pulitzer, once and for all.”

Race near-shouted, “Let’s go then!” And by some miracle, no one left sleeping in the lodging house woke up. 

\-----

After walking by candlelight for what seemed like forever, they reached the Pulitzer mansion. Katherine was waiting for them. She stood up when the large crowd of newsies approached and immediately took charge, “Now, we don’t have much time to get this done. Davey, Jack, Race and I will go down to the basement, where there are a couple of my friends ready to help. They are going to start printing the papers, while Race lets in the rest of the newsies. They will start distributing the papers across the city.” Katherine clapped her hands together, “Okay, boys, let’s get to work.”

Davey was about to head into the mansion with Katherine, Jack, and Race when a voice called, “Davey! Hey, wait, Davey!”

He turned around to see Albert waving at him. “What is it?” he asked. 

Albert sighed, “Well, I’m not sure if you noticed, but Les has been following us.” He grabbed Les by the arm, bringing him into Davey’s view. 

“Hey!” Les shouted in protest. He probably hadn’t been planning on his brother finding out.

Davey raised an eyebrow, “Really, Les? You had to come along, too?”

“Yeah, of course! You can’t win the strike without me!”

Davey sighed, echoing Albert and walked forward to hold Les’s hand, dragging him with him. “Come on. If you’re going to be here, I need at least need to be watching you. And keep quiet”

“Fine,” Les grunted but allowed Davey to pull him into the Pulitzer mansion, where Katherine, Jack, and Race were waiting. They all broke into grins upon seeing Les attached to Davey’s arm. Davey smiled back at them, but for a different reason. They were going to win the strike. _Yes,_ Davey thought, _this plan was going to work._

**Author's Note:**

> So here is my first fanfic for Newsies! I'm rather new to the fandom, but I wanted to post something for strike day. And here it is! I hope you enjoyed it enough to at least get this far. 
> 
> I'm not sure when the next chapter will be up, but it will hopefully be soon. 
> 
> Please tell me know if anything is inaccurate. Trust me, I would much rather know than continue looking like an idiot.


End file.
